Cambios

My dearest friends and family-

Perhaps I should begin this email by reminding you that it is not April Fools Day.

It has been quite the week! We´ll just start from the beginning- Monday after our computer time. We had already been shopping, already visited the office, already discussed how expensive peanut butter is here. I almost bought some that week, but talked myself out of it. Hermana Gonzalez laughed at me, knowing how much I love peanut butter but also how much I don´t really like to spend money. (You'd be proud, Dad. She used to tease me about always using all of the tissue, or not wanting to spend money on little things.)  Hna Gonzalez and I returned to the house with plenty of time leftover. I began making the Manjar Bars, (which were a huge success!! The district and everyone loved them, they were super easy to make, and it made quite a few. I´m sure we´ll make them again soon.) and Hermana Gonzalez and I were going to color her hair. At about this time, we got a call from the Assistants. We glanced at each other curiously, then answered the phone in alta voz. (speaker phone). Before we knew it, they were telling us that there was an emergency cambio, and Hermana Gonzalez was off to ChiajuanSito (I have no idea how that is actually spelled.) Not only that, but "Hermana Oldroyd va a entrenar." Let me translate that for you- Hermana Oldroyd is going to train. My dear people, I am a trainer. For real this time. We were both in shock- we had to ask them several times if this was a joke, but they assured us several times that it was very real.

That night was kind of a blur. We visited one or two families so that Hna Gonzalez could say goodbye, then we organized and packed and did all possible that night to get ready for the next day. We were both trying to process the new information- she was about to leave on yet another emergency cambio (when I came, it was the middle of a cambio like this) and I was about to train after 6 weeks in the field. The next morning during companionship study, we presented each other with our little parting tokens- I'd written her a letter the night before while she was showering, and she had also written me a little card and wrapped up a little package for me. I opened the packed and tears came to my eyes. It was a jar of peanut butter- it was a Christmas present to her from one of her American companions, and she´d mentioned before that she´d been saving it. Just earlier that day, we´d made plans to open it together and share it, and now she was giving it to me as a goodbye gift. We cried together, and she told me that these weeks in Lirquen have been the best of her mission. Before we knew it, the APs were picking us up (something that they usually don't do, apparently.) 

We dropped off Hermana Gonzalez in her new area, which actually isn't that far from Concepcion. We´d already had our emotional goodbye, but it was still hard to believe that after all our time together and all that we´d learned about each other, our companionship was over. On the other hand, part of knew, and knows, that this was happening for a reason. I may only have six (now seven)  weeks here in Chile, but for some reason the Lord saw fit to make this change. I feel confident with Lirquen, and the ward honestly couldn't be more fabulous. They are so supportive and there are many members here that are willing to help us in the work. The way I see it, this opportunity to train is an opportunity to put into practice all my dreams in respect to missionary work. Any goal or idea or anything, now is the time to put it into practice! With the support of my companion, of course.

Ahhh yes. My companion! We picked her up midday in the office in Concepcion, and of course, she was quite tired after her flights. Her name is Hermana Hannah Peterson (funny story, we have another Hannah Peterson in our zone.), and she is from Mesa, Arizona. (Grandma- I already asked her if she knows any Sherwoods. Any other family names down there?) She entered the MTC the same day I did, and has been in the Provo MTC for the last two months, two weeks longer than originally expected. This was due to a lovely foot fracture, so here she is in the middle of a cambio. She took two years of Spanish in high school and has her MTC experience. I think I appreciate a little more now the full meaning of the compliments that I received initially here in Chile- the language is a bit of a struggle for her, but we´re working with it. I'm trying to find the balance between pushing her to speak in Spanish with me, and also helping her to understand things and not feel overwhelmed. We've talked about it and I think we´ll be just great to learn and progress together in the language. 

One thing I love about her already- we have almost exactly the same vision for what a missionary can and should be. We plan to be, and have been, exactly obedient and as possible, and we both have high goals for our time together. Tuesday we worked hard, and then Wednesday and Thursday just happened to be a special New Missionary training sessions in Concepcion. 

Can you say "perfect timing"? I was so grateful for that. We went together with Hermana Mendoza to that training, and I learned so much and felt so inspired. It was also super fun to see Hermana Call and Holland, and Elder Adamson at the conference. We trained and learned so much at those conferences, then went back to the house at about 4 to start proselyting again. To add another fun detail into the mix, we also had two extra sisters staying in our house. They proselyted with us on Wednesday night then went home on Thursday. (home, back to their zones... same thing) I saw a mini-miracle this week in the midst  of all this craziness, my own little "feeding the five thousand" experience. With a new missionary that hadn't had time to shop for food, two visiting missionaries that didn't bring anything but clothes, and two other missionaries that basically buy cookies by the day to survive, the food that I´d purchased on Monday somehow lasted all of us until today. I honestly do not know how that turned out, but we all ate and I even got to enjoy some of my own cookies! 

Friday, we found a family. One of our huge emphasis here in the mission is finding and baptizing families, and on Friday, we were following our plans and visiting some old names. When we can´t find names, we general knock all the doors immediately around that name, a trick called "Do the U". Mercedes, a woman of about 55 years, answered the door and immediately let us in. She was there with her husband, Luis, and their adult age son, Victor, and we began to teach. They agreed to come to church, and as we left, I could hardly believe it! 

I was so happy. Sunday, we knocked on their door to pick them up, and Luis answered the door. Mercedes had been called into work last minute and Victor was out visiting, and he didn´t feel comfortable coming alone. I felt quite the weight as we walked into church alone. I sat in sacrament meeting and thought really hard about this calling to be a trainer, about my faith, about my efforts as a missionary. I decided that I don´t want to wallow in my 'unsuccesses' (I know that isn´t really a word, but I like it anyway), but must choose to always look forward and strengthen my faith. Faith faith faith. This is the attribute that I've decided to study this week, and I prayed to the Lord to tell Him that I have faith that in proportion to my diligence and obedience, I know He will bless us with success in the mission field. 

The day before, we´d been lunching (also not a word) with the Elder´s quorum president, Alexys Moscoso and his wife. Just to illustrate how great our ward is, he basically sat us down and said Ì would like to have a Noche de Hogar in my house tommorrow night. We will invite the members and we will provide the food. Will you bring your investigators and a short spiritual message?` Why yes, we would love to!! Though luis and mercedes couldn´t come to church, they were able to come to this NDH, and they were super excited about it. Mom, you wouldn´ve loved it. We got together, did introductions, then had our spiritual message. We used the Mormon Message DVD that Dad sent, and got to hear several conversion stories and testimonies from the members. Then we played games. Games! All adults, and we played games like that straw game with the little candies, where you roll the dice while the other tries to grab as many candies as possible. After, we ate chips and cookies and juice, and I think the world may have been totally perfect.

My testimony and relationship with Heavenly Father is ever growing. I love you all and pray for you every day. I promise I´m doing my very best!! The gospel is so true.

Hermana Oldroyd

Erica wrote that they understand that if you practice speaking while holding a pen in your mouth that it helps with pronunciation